Cash for clunkers (lemon) rockets.

[cornyl]

If you could trade in one of your clunker or lemon rockets, you know the ones that would not and could not fly straight or fly at all, and after repairs they still would not fly.
Which rocket would you trade in and which rocket would you like to get?

TRADE IN :I think I would trade in my estes x-wing (the kit not the rtf) fighter or what's left of it.:bangbang:

REASON:When it flew the parachute would red barron on the laser cannons. Breaking off the fins or cannons every time.

After a few flights I had an engine cato and it melted the entire fusealage.

I rebuilt the front end out of balsa.
Now it breaks the shock cord on every flight.
The fins and cannons are all broken again for the 10th time.

PURCHASE: Quest Tomahawk.
REASON:Looks like a nice clean kit with nice lines.

CornyL

 

[Donaldsrockets]

For me, this is the following

TRADE IN: Estes Cosmos Mariner
REASON: Not exactly the best flier during launch and especially during the glide back.

Last time it flew, it came in quick and landed hard ripping off both bottom vertical stabilizers. Just a really crappy kit in general. Definitely will NOT build another.

PURCHASE: Custom Rockets Equinox
REASON: Gotta love them slim slender six foot tall rockets.

I have the original version, won it in a raffle but the new version looks awesome.

 

[Sleepy_Steve]

LOL if only there were some sponsored way to get some cash for something of value (presently) out of something that is 'worthless'

Closest thing you can do is cannibalize it and put it into your parts bin, or maybe a club spare parts bin. Unlike the clunkers program which would require you burning your old rocket in front of a government official.


/disclaimer: rant of a car person below, read w/ caution...

In the real world though clunkers was one of THE WORST ideas I've seen in a long time. Sure the plan was to boost domestic car purchases and improve the national average MPG of cars by a small amount, but the effect was very different. It made anyone looking for an early 90s car in the 1k-5k range essentially SOL. For those who don't understand who that hurts, its about 90% of the driving population under 25, as well as most people who can't afford a new car. The other problem is the deliberate destruction of spare parts. If you are unfortunate enough to own a car that was not terribly common, and qualified for the program, you will now have a harder time finding spare parts for that vehicle when repairs need to be made in a cost effective way by recycling parts from other vehicles in junk yards. Strange as it may seem a junk yard is a very economical and green way to reduce consumption of raw materials. Unfortunately, Cash for Clunkers does two things to make that impossible for 'clunked' cars. It runs a solution through the engine to seize it so that it will never run again, ruining all internal parts of the engine beyond the ability of it to be rebuilt, and often makes the poor car catch on fire. It then is taken away to be immediately shredded and melted down without ever being sent to a junk yard. Oh, and of course we all get to pay for it in an indirect and delayed fashion via federal taxes, but maybe only the rich will have to pay for it all. Maybe cash for clunkers was a neat idea, but go figure it wound up being FAR more wasteful than it needed to be. Thanks government.

/end rant.

 

[chanstevens]

I'd trade in my Estes Cosmos Mariner and Outlander in a heartbeat, and wouldn't even need cash. I'd trade 'em for a pack of motors. The Cosmos Mariner is an overweight piece of &#^% that flies like a brick (probably weighs more than one, too). The Outlander was a huge disappointment--looks cool, but with all that plastic and draggy trim, it's woefully underpowered on a C. I built it before I understood much about bashing, and would probably build another one 24mm, decorating in Mars Lander scheme with Sirius decals, if it weren't for the hundreds of other interesting rockets already in the build queue.

 

[roadkill]

After witnessing a couple dozen Outlander
launches I am yet to see a successful flight...

Prolly the worst Estes design...
Ever !
:bangpan:

 

[dlb]

could be woarst, try flying a Quest HL20 Lifting Body
not worth the paper it was printed on!:bangbang:

 

[Zeus-cat]

I already gave it away as I found it to be useless, but I would have traded my Estes MAxTrax for 3 sheets of recovery wadding, a used igniter and a pink C-6 engine plug.

 

[Pantherjon]

After witnessing a couple dozen Outlander
launches I am yet to see a successful flight...

Prolly the worst Estes design...
Ever !
:bangpan:

Mine flies great! But, then again, I launch it with the AT 18mm 'D' loads!:roll:

Come on up to O'burg for Freedom Launch and you will be able to see a 'successful' flight!

 

[judo]

If it had not been destroyed in a move it would have been my Aerotech Initiator. It landed once in a pond and twice in a tree. The only time it landed in the clear it spat out my 24mm reload case.

I'd buy a Squirrel Works Dogfight. I don't have any SW rockets.

And if you got $4500 of gub'ment money, you will be paying the taxes on it come April.

 

[MarkII]

I would ditch my Edmonds Contest Craft Micro Deltie. I can honestly say that it is the only rocket kit that I have ever bought that was an utter disappointment. But probably not due to anything wrong with the kit. In the right hands, this would no doubt have been a competitive, if short-lived, model. I bought it because my club was holding a meet that had 1/4A boost glider duration as one of the events. I am not much of a competitor but there was great pressure within the club to get as many members as possible to participate in the meet. If it wasn't for that, I probably never would have even considered buying this kit. The glider parts and the hook parts are laser-cut from some paper-thin type of competition-grade balsa that would snap in half if you just gave it a hard stare, and with my ham-fisted construction skills, successfully building it was pretty much impossible. It probably didn't help that it was the very first boost glider of any type that I had ever tried to build. The balsa was so fragile that the hook parts basically crumbled when I tried to remove them from the sheet, and I had to try to cobble something together using the salvageable pieces supplemented with some styrene; it didn't work. At the meet, the glider came off the booster a fraction of a second after ignition, just after the booster cleared the launch rod. Afterward, I had the glider sitting on the back bumper of my car. A little breeze blew it off, causing it to fall the approx. 2 feet to the grassy ground. The "impact" caused the glider to snap in two.

If I could, I would exchange my Micro Deltie for an Edmonds Elcie. I am really interested in rocket gliders and I would love to try this one out. Since it is designed for sport flying, I suspect that it will have a more robust construction than the Contest Craft. Plus, I am now a more skilled rocket builder than I was back then. I keep meaning to get one.

MarkII

 

[Gillard]

i would trade in my Das Modell - Hummel, a relatively expensive german made low quality parts kit, flew okay at first, but it was a pain to finish, the transition cracked, the shoulders were too shallow, the fins aged badly.
i'd accept anything for it, a used launch lug.
i'd like a VMX vantage, to replace the one i lost last month